


Family Matters

by wadingpool



Series: Sangre [10]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Afro Latino Gabriel Reyes, Dad Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Gen, Latino Jesse McCree, Post-Recall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 12:51:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14112726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wadingpool/pseuds/wadingpool
Summary: He wondered if there was ever any going back from slaying one's family





	Family Matters

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is my first fic for overwatch. This hasnt been beta'd at all and i'm not really going to bother tbh it's just an idea that came to my head. I'll post similar pieces to this that are connected soon.
> 
> Thanks

Jesse found him in Pasadena in a small neighborhood that was abandoned. Streets cracked and walls dilapidated. Paint peeling from the walls of homes from neglect. Debris littering the streets, blocking small backstreets and sidewalks. Scraps of metal still layed scattered. Jesse had spent 3 hours searching the ghost town looking for his very own ghost.  
  
Jesse checked the address on the small, yellow piece of paper. The house had at one point been a golden yellow with red roof tiles. Years of abandon and bullets had since stripped away the paint to only faint traces. He walked upon the dead grass to the dark, wood door. He laid his hand against the cool wood, feeling the bullet holes, worn by time. It was time to face his ghost. It was his duty, to hell with what Jack thought. It was between him and Reaper. No, not Reaper. It was between him and Gabriel, because regardless of how much of Gabriel was left in the wraith, he was still Gabriel. And Gabriel was still family, was still his responsibility like Jesse was Gabriel's responsibility all those years ago. Family even after all that had happened.  
  
It was time to put an end to this. By any means necessary. No matter if Jesse was against the idea.  
  
Jesse vaguely wondered if this is how Hanzo felt when he had to carry out the kill order on Genji, his own family. How both Hanzo and Genji were both destroyed that night.  
  
He wondered if he and Gabriel would be the same but he knew that, deep down, only one of them is going to walk out alive. There was no Overwatch about to save them. It was just the two of them and family matters.  
  
Jesse opened the door, the old wood creaking and groaning, the hinges rusted completely. Jesse paid it no mind. He did not bother being quiet. They were both well aware of the others presence.  
  
Jesse observed the room. The furniture was destroyed and it was a mess from looters and the such. He saw the remains of a guitar on the floor near a fractured table. A small smile flickered on his face. It was not dissimilar to the one Gabriel had taught him how to play all those years ago. He quickly dismissed the thought. He had could not get caught up with sentimentality.  
  
He walked down a hallway, side stepping broken furniture and garbage, opening each and every door until he had one left.  
  
It was time to face the music.  
  
Gabriel looked the same as he had last time Jesse had seen him. His face hadn't aged a bit. Not like Jack or Ana. The only thing was his hair had grown past the buzzcut it was in and had become a dark, short afro. It reminded him of the pictures that Gabriel had shown him from when he was younger.  
  
While he looked the same, his eyes were inhumane. A dark red iris with black sclera looked at Jesse, calculated but not cold. Wisps off the black smoke that was always prevalent wherever he went blurred together with his curls. He did not look natural. There was something wrong about him as if he were not suppose to be there. As if he were suppose to be dead.  
  
They were both silent, both knowing in their mind that only one of them was going to leave that house. Gabriel looked him in the eyes and nodded. Jesse entered the room. The wraith stsyed seated on the floor, looking up at him.  
  
"Looks like there's a cold front on its way," Gabriel said, his voice that grating, deep rasp that Jesse hated. It wasn't the voice he was used to. But it wasn't completely foreign. The voice still had a soft quality to it. Reyes had never been a loud man. He knew how to project his voice but never did he raise it.  
  
Maybe, Jesse muses, is why he hates that voice. It was just so close to being the real thing but ultimately it will never be it again.  
  
"Reckon I've got a plan for the occasion," Jesse drawled, leveling a steady stare at Gabriel. Gabriel nodded and gestured for Jesse to sit down. Jesse obeyed, sitting across from him. There was a moment of silence until Jesse broke it.  
  
"Ya know why I'm here," Jesse said to the quiet room.  
  
"Yeah, I do." The wraith replied nonplussed.  
  
"Are ya gonna fight?" Jesse hoped he would. He needed an excuse.  
  
"No."

Jesse closes his eyes, breathing deeply through his nose. He was exhausted. His feelings not helping him make his decision.  
  
"You're a criminal, ya know... a mass murderer," he opens his eyes. "I need to take ya out before ya go off again."  
  
Gabriel nodded. "Perhaps... I may be a powder keg just about to explode," He then smirks, something so painfully familiar that it makes a sharp pain go through Jesse's heart. _Mijo, you will be fine. It's only temporary._  
  
"Funny how it all comes back to that day, huh? You were so young and had blood on your hands but still had so much ahead of yourself... a light that couldn't be snuffed out." Gabriel's eyes drifted to the wall past Jesse. "I have done too much in my life time for my chance. We both know it. And we both know what has to be done.  
  
"Only one of us is getting out of this room," Gabriel pauses and then glances at Jesse. "And I'm sorry that it has to be you."  
  
Jesse releases a shaky breath, hands briefly shaking. He wanted to scream, he wanted to break something. Anything to not be here, doing this. He wants to be able to say that Gabriel will be fine, that he isn't always on the verge of having a meltdown and murdering civilians. His mind had been too destroyed, too broken, too manipulated for far too many years.  
  
The damage had been done. The Reaper would always be a part of Gabriel he won't ever be able to let go. It had to be taken from him.  The only thing is that once one is gone, the other is gone as well. They both knew. Gabriel, waiting patiently for it. Jesse, dreading it.  
  
"Don' ya think ya've asked enough from me, jefe?" Jesse attempted to joke, voice wavering. Gabriel closed his own eyes, leaning his head back against the wall.  
  
"Yes. But I am a selfish man. So I require you to do this one thing left. Even if I know it's one of the most painful things you'll do, mijo." Gabriel said, voice quiet yet as strong as ever. Jesse clenched his hands into fists, trying to stop the shaking or at the very least hide it. He knew it wouldn't work. He could never hide anything from Gabriel.  
  
"So this is how it goes, huh? It's me playin' executioner to ya because, what. You're dangerous?" Jesse asked, knowing the answer. There was a reason they were both here. They both knew.  
  
Gabriel sighed. "I was never a good man. Maybe a man with good intentions, but never a good man," he paused, then continued "and maybe I was an even worse father."  
  
"Never." Jesse replied immediately, no hesitation in his voice. He was close to crying and that was the last thing this moment needed. "You were the best father I could gave ever asked for. Genji would say the same if he were here." Jesse met Gabriel's red, foreign eyes. "You still are the best father I could ever have." Jesse finished, tears dripping silently from his eyes.  
  
They had slowly migrated to sitting next to each other, like the good old days of helping Fareeha with homework or sweet guitar playing in a warm night.  
  
Gabriel looked at him with care and love and Jesse couldn't help the slight trembling of his lip.  
  
"I was always proud of you. I will always be proud and I will always love you, Jesse. You are my son, my life, and my pride. Thank you, mijo." Gabriel whispered, slowly reaching for Jesse.  
  
"Gracias, papá." Jesse whispered.  
  
The gunshot startled the waning light of dusk, the quiet, abandoned scenery of the abandoned town. Gabriel looked at him one last time, his fingers meeting Jesse's face and slowly brushing away the tears before stopping forever.  
  
For Jesse, it had never been more quiet in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> For Karla who I bother frequently with these fics
> 
> Translation:  
> jefe- boss
> 
> mijo- short hand of mi hijo meaning "my  
> son;" term of endearment.
> 
> gracias papá- thank you, dad


End file.
